Environmental group puts pressure on museum to end its partnership with oil company
Dozens of activists have coated themselves in plaster and are trying to occupy the British Museum overnight in a bid to pressure the institution to cut ties with oil corporation BP.
About 60 protesters were taking part in the defiant act of impromptu sculpture making as the museum in London attempted to close its doors at 5pm on Saturday.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson to announce plans for ‘fundamental changes’ to system for dealing with convicted terrorists. Follow the latest developments
Nazir Afzal, the former chief crown prosecutor for north-west England, has said, as he did after November’s London Bridge attack, which was – like the Streatham attack – carried out by a convicted terrorist, that he warned Boris Johnson four years ago about the threat posed by such individuals on release. He said he told the prime minister that proper de-radicalisation programmes were needed with mentoring, to which the response was that “that costs money”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning that longer sentences were not the answer.
We could have delayed this inevitable crime by a few months if we’d given him that [a longer sentence] but there is a real problem with de-radicalisation and disengagement programmes. They have been largely underfunded, they are poorly executed.
Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Sir Lanka and Denmark have world-renowned evaluated de-radicalisation programmes, properly resourced, which are making a significant difference.
My thoughts with those harmed in #Streatham & with thanks to our police & security services for running towards danger
I hate to remind people that the time bomb that releasing still radicalised terrorists was brought to the PMs personal attention 4 yrs ago https://t.co/lOsLktILSK pic.twitter.com/s7FkqZNiwO
Hello, this is Haroon Siddique taking over the liveblog from Jessica.
A witness told Sky News he thought at the time that it was probably gang-related.
"I just saw a fight, but that's kind of normal around here."
A witness to the terror attack in Streatham, south London told Sky News he thought it was just a regular fight until he heard a "shout" and everyone ran.
Latest here: https://t.co/XHvrvIOw6j pic.twitter.com/qwdl6zrMxB
Rishi Sunak defends policies amid backlash over early release of Streatham attacker
The chief secretary to the Treasury has rejected the idea that cuts to prison and probation services have made it harder to rehabilitate or monitor terrorism suspects after a man who left prison days ago was shot dead by police after he stabbed two people in London.
Rishi Sunak declined to reveal the measures that Boris Johnson or the home secretary, Priti Patel, would announce on Monday after the attack by Sudesh Amman on Streatham High Road.
Continue reading...Police say two people injured after man shot dead in terrorism-related incident on Streatham High Road, south London
The British Red Cross has provided this statement on the Streatham terror incident:
Our sympathies are with those affected by this afternoon’s incident in Streatham. We are in communication with the authorities leading the response and are closely monitoring the situation.
We are ready to make the UK Solidarity Fund available to those affected by the attack.
Police have given an update on the condition of the three people known to have been injured in the Streatham terror attack this afternoon.
One is in hospital in a life-threatening condition.
A second victim was treated for minor injuries at the scene before being taken to hospital.
A third victim has been taken to hospital – their condition is not life-threatening.
The pair, aged 47 and 29, are to face court charged with conspiracy to commit burglary at the heiress’s London home
Two people have been charged by detectives investigating a £50 million jewellery raid on heiress Tamara Ecclestone’s London home, Scotland Yard said.
Tower Hamlets residents Maria Mester, 47, and 29-year-old Emil-Bogdan Savastru have both been charged with conspiracy to commit burglary.
Continue reading...People involved in cladding want assurances testimonies will not be used to prosecute them
Witnesses in the Grenfell inquiry who were involved in the tower’s refurbishment have threatened to withhold evidence unless they receive an assurance that their testimony will not be used to mount criminal prosecutions that could land them in jail.
Lawyers for the architects, builders and the client on the works threw the inquiry into confusion on Wednesday when they wrote to its chairman, Sir Martin Moore-Bick, arguing that their clients could claim a privilege against self-incrimination as a reason for not answering questions.
Continue reading...Benita Mehra had been the target of fury from survivors and bereaved of 2017 tragedy
A key member of the Grenfell Tower public inquiry has resigned after fury among survivors and the bereaved at her links to the company that made the combustible cladding.
Less than 48 hours before the inquiry is due to start hearing evidence about “decisions which led to the installation of a highly combustible cladding system”, Boris Johnson announced Benita Mehra was standing down from a panel advising the chairman of the inquiry, Sir Martin Moore-Bick. It followed 10 days of rising pressure on the prime minister from the community devastated by the fire on 14 June 2017 – which claimed 72 lives – to reverse her appointment.
Continue reading...Civil liberties groups condemn move as ‘a breathtaking assault on our rights’
The Metropolitan police will start using live facial recognition, Britain’s biggest force has announced.
The decision to deploy the controversial technology, which has been dogged by privacy concerns and questions over its lawfulness, was immediately condemned by civil liberties groups, who described the move as “a breathtaking assault on our rights”.
Continue reading...Families feel they have fallen down agenda amid row over inquiry panel member
Grenfell survivors have accused Boris Johnson of downgrading the government’s interest in the disaster and said he is out of touch with what they are going through.
As pressure rose on the prime minister to rescind his appointment of a public inquiry panel member revealed to have links to the combustible cladding company involved in the tower’s refurbishment, community leaders said: “Grenfell families have dropped down the agenda for Downing Street.”
Continue reading...Awareness training across London led to ‘intelligence’ tip-offs, according to report
A police force in London labelled Extinction Rebellion one of its “key threats” in a counter-terrorism assessment and provided awareness training on the climate crisis group across the capital, resulting in “intelligence” tip-offs.
City of London police grouped the environmental protest movement alongside “far-right organisations” in an assessment of its counter-terrorism operations seen by the Guardian.
Continue reading...Court finds James Healy assaulted Guardian columnist because of homophobia and Jones’s leftwing views
A man has been found guilty of aggravated assault against the Guardian columnist Owen Jones because of hostility to his leftwing political views and homophobia, following a two-day trial at Snaresbrook crown court.
Anne Studd QC, the presiding judge, concluded at the end of the hearing that Jones was the victim of a “wholly unprovoked assault” outside a central London pub last August because of “his LGBT and his leftwing beliefs”.
Continue reading...Commissioner says Europe will seek fishery access and UK will want concessions for City
The EU’s trade commissioner has suggested there could be a last-minute trade-off with Brussels offering the City of London access to European markets in return for European fleets retaining their fishing rights in British waters.
The UK’s financial services sector will lose its automatic right to serve Europe-based clients at the end of the transition period and the EU will need to negotiate access to UK waters for its fishing boats.
Continue reading...Call for action after police figures show 46% of people charged were reoffenders
Almost half of people charged with knife killings in London over the past three years had previously committed an offence involving a blade, Metropolitan police figures suggest.
The Met charged 379 people with knife crime homicides between the start of November 2016 and the end of October last year. Of those charged, 173, or 46%, had previously committed a knife offence, according to the Met data.
Continue reading...Police are investigating the incident at a cultural centre as a suspected hate crime
Anti-Islamic slogans have been painted on a building close to a mosque and cultural centre in south London, the Metropolitan police have said.
Officers were called to a building near the North Brixton Islamic cultural centre on Brixton Road at 11am on Wednesday following reports of spray-painted slogans on a building near the centre.
Continue reading...Incident occurred close to north London market on Sunday morning, says Met
Detectives are searching for a driver whom they said intentionally struck and injured two police officers with a car.
The Metropolitan police said the incident occurred close to Camden market in north London on Sunday morning.
Continue reading...Olubunmi Diya insists the two children and her husband, who died with them, could swim
The mother of two British children who drowned alongside their father while holidaying in Spain has dismissed claims they could not swim and suggested there may have been a problem with the swimming pool in which they died.
Gabriel Diya, a 52-year-old Christian pastor, his nine-year-old daughter, Comfort and his 16-year-old son, Praise-Emmanuel, died on Christmas Eve at the Club La Costa World holiday resort in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.
Continue reading...Death of Melanie Panayiotou not being treated as suspicious, say police
George Michael’s sister Melanie Panayiotou was found dead at her home on Christmas Day, police have said, three years to the day since the singer’s death. The 55-year-old hairdresser was found by her older sister, Yioda, on the evening of 25 December.
The Metropolitan police said they were called by the London ambulance service shortly after 7.30pm on Wednesday to reports of the sudden death of a woman. Her death is not being treated as suspicious.
Continue reading...Grenfell United says news that member had been replaced was ‘snuck out before Christmas’
Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have expressed disappointment about a change to the inquiry panel that was “snuck out just before Christmas”.
The second phase of the investigation will include a panel and is set to begin early next year.
Continue reading...Bollo Brook youth centre credited with saving children from knife crime is at centre of gentrification row
A London youth club credited with saving children from rising knife violence is facing calls for its closure from new residents who think it would be better used as a coffee shop.
The Bollo Brook youth centre in South Acton, which serves some of the poorest and most vulnerable children in London, is embroiled in a gentrification row with residents demanding the council close it down and remove it from the area, claiming it has been “dumped” on them causing “nothing but problems”.
Continue reading...Civil servant Darryn Frost confronted terrorist and pinned him to the ground
A civil servant has described the moment he confronted the London Bridge terrorist with a narwhal tusk as the terrorist threatened to detonate a suicide vest.
Darryn Frost, 38, a South African who has lived in the UK for 14 years and works in the Ministry of Justice, intervened after Usman Khan had fatally wounded Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt at a criminal justice conference at Fishmongers’ Hall on 29 November.
Continue reading...